Stories for March 26th 2014

US President Barack Obama has told the European Union it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

The Lockheed TriStar, closely linked to the recent history of the Falkland Islands has flown its last operational mission with the Royal Air Force. On 24 March, two TriStars of 216 Squadron based at Royal Air Force Brize Norton flew an air-to-air refueling mission over the North Sea before one of them conducted fly-pasts at airfields associated with its history.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin called President Cristina Fernández and praised Argentina’s position against the “double standard” of world powers in the resolution of international conflicts. The Argentine leader appealed to the examples of Crimea and the Falkland Islands' referendum in her statements last week in France.

Brazil's central bank on Tuesday said it will continue to respond to challenges in the international scenario after Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the country's credit ratings. This includes a rigorous set of macroeconomic policies, a flexible exchange rate regime and the use of liquidity buffers to smooth out moves in asset prices the bank said in a statement.

In new estimates the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died - one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air pollution could save millions of lives.

Thousands of babies who had died from abortion and miscarriage were being used to heat hospitals in Britain. An investigation has found that baby corpses go to the incinerator as clinical waste, aside from using the remains as fuel to keep British hospitals warm.

An Argentine bondholder seeking to collect on hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments stemming from the country's historic 2002 default filed a lawsuit on Tuesday aiming to take control of the country's rights under a contract for satellite launches with a private US firm.

High level delegates from twelve British universities visited Chile the week of 17 March to deepen their partnerships with the country, becoming the first large international education delegation to visit under the new Chilean government of President Michelle Bachelet.

Argentina underlined the support from Brazil, France, Mexico, (even the IMF), among other institutions in the country's long exhausting litigation with hedge funds, an issue which is crucial for Argentina and the whole international financial system.